The device and method disclosed herein relate to a physical therapy device.
Ankle injuries are common and may be a result of weak muscles associated with the ankle. During typical daily activities, or in association with sport related activities, one or more muscles in the ankle can give way to stresses beyond their capacity due to associated weakness, which can lead to injury to the ankle joint, neural tissue and supportive structures. While recovering from, an ankle injury, the patient may he required to rest (i.e. not exercise) his or her ankle to allow for necessary healing to take place, however, this rest period can allow for further weakening or atrophy of ankle muscles. As a result, many ankle injuries require subsequent physical therapy to strengthen the muscles of the ankle to help allow the patient to recover to a necessary functional level and to help prevent, further injury from occurring again.
During physical therapy, the physical therapist evaluates the patient to assess the associated impairments of the joint and its supportive tissues (i.e. muscles). Based on the assessment, the physical therapist will develop a working diagnosis on what muscles appear to be weak or injured, which will then lead to appropriate treatment of those muscles—which often includes strengthening. However, since it can he time consuming or expensive for the patient to work with the therapist multiple times per week, patients are often educated on how to perform exercises on their own at home without supervision. By way of example and not limitation, the physical therapist may teach the patient to tie an elastic member around his or her foot and tie the other end of the elastic member to a leg of a chair or weight or other stationary object. The patient must readjust his or her body in order to move his or her foot by pivoting, his or her ankle in a particular manner in order to exercise and strengthen a particular muscle associated with the ankle. If the movement of the foot is slightly off, the muscle that needs to be strengthened is not strengthened. Rather, a different muscle altogether is exercised and strengthened. At home, the patient may not realize that be or she is performing the exercise incorrectly and strengthening the wrong muscle. Hence, defeating the purpose of the ankle exercise regimen.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for an improvement for exercising an ankle of the patient.